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Simon Katz * 1898

Hammer Landstraße 32 . (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)

1943 Auschwitz ermordet 22.02.1943
1938 Zuchthaus Oslebshausen

further stumbling stones in Hammer Landstraße 32 .:
Dr. Max Besser, Käthe Besser

Simon Katz, born 14 July 1898, deported 28 Jan. 1943 to Auschwitz, date of death there 22 Feb. 1943

Simon Katz wrote on 7 July 1937 to the Jewish Religious Organization in Hamburg:

"I did not apply to the tax office for tax credit so as not to draw attention to myself."

Simon Katz arrived in Germany from Czernowitz as a 10-year-old child in 1908. At the time, Czernowitz belonged to Romania, therefore Simon Katz had Romanian citizenship.

That was the reason he did not want to attract attention. He wrote to the "Jewish Religious Organization" because he wanted to be exempted from paying church tax. The community pointed out that that required him to have been granted a tax credit by the finance office. He had not applied for the tax credit due to the reason mentioned above. Simon Katz had joined the German-Israelite Community of Hamburg in 1929 and repeatedly threatened to withdraw if he had to pay the full amount of church tax. However he did not withdraw, probably because doing so would have meant he would have had to forego his right to a grave at the Jewish cemetery.

Simon Katz was a merchant, yet only ever had a small income with which he also had to support his father in Berlin and other relatives. He lived first at Oben Borgfelde 21, then moved to the poorer areas of Hamm-Mitte and Hamm-Süd. In 1937 he moved to Brahmsallee 18 and was still living there when he was accused of "racial defilement" in 1938. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison which he served in Bremen-Oslebshausen. Instead of releasing him, the Gestapo transferred him to the Fuhlsbüttel Prison. From there he was sent directly to the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. On 28 Jan. 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp where he was killed on 22 Feb. 1943.

Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2016
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 2; 4; 5; 8; StaH, 522-1, Jüdische Gemeinden, 992 d Bd 16, Steuerakten; o. Sign. Mitgliederzählung der DIGH 1928; 390 Wählerverzeichnis 1930; 391 Mitgliederliste 1935.